Cattle guard



Aug. 23, 1960 R. H. ARRINGTON CATTLE GUARD Filed May 18, 1956 IN VEN TOR.

RICHARD H. ARR/A/GTON ATTOR/VL'V ilit CATTLE GUARD Richard H. Arlington, Mount Zion Road, Montgomery, Ala.

This invention relates to cattle guards and is particularly concerned with guards of the type comprising spaced tread members over which vehicles may travel but which are so separated as to provide insecure footing for cattle which are thus inhibited from attempting to travel thereover.

Such cattle guards have long been in use throughout the rural areas, the treadways being disposed between roadway gaps or openings in fences so as to prevent the cattle from emerging while avoiding the necessity of gates which must be opened and closed for entry and exit of persons or vehicles. Conventional guards of this type are usually expensive concrete and metallic structures permanently installed and hence not susceptible to removal and replacement. Furthermore, such conventional guards do not lend themselves to repair and hence, when damaged, must be totally discarded and replaced.

It is therefore among the more general objects of the present invention to provide a novel and improved cattle guard of the spaced tread type which will be simple in construction, capable of being economically prefabricated and simple to install, these objectives being secured without loss of effective and efiicient operation.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a cattle guard such that great economies may be effected in the construction and installation of the device.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved cattle guard of the spaced tread type which may be readily repaired in case of wear or damage, the treads thereof being individually removable and replaceable.

Numerous other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from consideration of the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompaying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of one type of installation of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the tread construction of the installation depicted in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse cross-section through the installation of Fig. 1 taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a view showing the economical way in which individual tread pieces may be formed from a single board.

While various aspects of the present inventive concept may be individually employed in numerous types of cattle guard installations, that form of the invention here presented by way of example may be generally defined as comprising a plurality of closely adjacent but spaced parallel wooden tread members formed, for instance, from two by six or eight inch planking. One feature of the invention is that each end of the tread members is cut at an angle so that, as shown in Fig. 4, a length of material may be cut to provide a given number of treads, the total tread surface of which exceeds the original length of the material. The ends of the treads are set into receiving grooves formed in the oblique face of side rails. By the uniformity of the end angularity of the treads tates Patent it will be seen that such rails lend themselves to precasting other than at the scene of the installation and such angularity also lends itself to the formation of multiples of tread units comprising sets of parallel tread members from a single board stock with a minimum waste of material. The angularity of the treads decreases the supported length of the efiective span allowing lighter material to be used to support a given load while providing an increased eifective supporting length. It will also be noted that by the present construction individual treads may be removed and replaced when worn or damaged beyond repair. Of prime consideration in the present construction is that of economy as to both treads and rails as well as with respect to the labor involved in the installation of such guards. It is also an important advantage of the present invention to provide a structure which lends itself to both prefabrication and mass production. Not only may the elements be formed at a plant equipped and arranged for economic construction but transportation is convenient and erection at the site selected may be quickly and easily achieved without the use of special tools or skilled labor.

Referring now to the details of construction as presented by that form of the present invention depicted by the drawings, it will be seen that the treads 10 may be appropriately formed of stock size wood planking or like material preferably treated for weather and vermin re sistance as by creosote. As seen in Fig. 4, the treads 10 may be economically cut from a plank of less total length than that of the tread surfaces of the individual treads formed therefrom. Each end 11 of each tread 10 is cut at an angle, and thus in cutting the plank 12 of Fig. 4 at such equal and opposite angles indicated at 13 and 14, the top edge of the plank will form equal top edges 15 and 16 for the end treads 17 and 18, while the intermediate top tread edges 19 will form the bottom edge of an equal length tread 20. By thus determining the angularity of the bevelled tread ends 11 multiple treads may be formed whose total length is greater than the length of material from which they are cut.

In that form of the invention here presented, the guard is shown as of a total width equal to twice that of the length of any one tread; however, it will be understood that the guard may be formed of but a single parallel series of treads and thus to be of a total width of but one length of tread, or multiples more than the double width here shown may be formed by the use of additional central base members and plural sets of parallel treads. In the present form of the invention, the outer ends 11 of the treads 10 are seated within equally spaced tread grooves 21 formed in the inwardly facing inclined surface 22 of concrete side base rails 23. The opposite inner ends of the treads 10 are seated in equally angular grooves 24 on the inclined faces 25 of a central or intermediate concrete rail 26. While the inner face of the side rails 23 are inclined inwardly the rails have a base surface 27 resting on the ground surface, and a substantially vertical outer wall 28, while the wall 22 spanning these surfaces lies at an angle commensurate with that of the ends of the treads and thus the equally angular ends 11 of the treads 10 will readily fit into the grooves 21. The central or intermediate rail 26 is here shown as an isosceles triangle with a base 30 and having sides inclined at the same angle as the side rail surfaces 22, and thus their grooves 24 will also receive the opposite inner angled ends 11 of the treads 10.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the treads and rails may be preformed and transported to the place of erection with little diificulty and that, at such place of erection, the rails may be laid as in Figs. 1 and 3 where they may be embedded in the sides of a ditch or depression, the central rail being supported if necessary by a piling or pier 31. After appropriate laying of the rails, either in pairs or with one or more intermediate rails as determined by the total width and load limit of the desired guard, the treads may be dropped edgewise into posi-, tion in the parallel confronting grooves and will thereafter be retained in this position. If desired, transverse tie bolts 32 may be extended between the rails to tension the end pressure on the treads and/or to retain the rails in parallel alignment and against spreading.

In the practice of the present invention numerous changes, modifications and the full use of equivalents may be resorted to. For instance, it is not essential that the treads be formed of wood or that the rails be of concrete. The use of multiples of tread units as here shown is not essential and in some instances the angularity of the ends of the treads may not be the forty-five degrees here suggested. It will be understood that such departures from the present suggestions do not in any way constitute a departure from the spirit or scope of the invention as outlined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A cattle guard comprising a parallel pair of concrete side rails of generally right triangular cross-section and formed on the confronting surfaces with tread receiving grooves disposed at approximately forty-five degrees from the vertical, an intermediate isoceles triangular rail formed with tread receiving grooves on two adjacent sides, said grooves being disposed at approximately forty-five degrees from the vertical and parallel sets of parallel wooden treads mounted in said grooves, the ends of said treads being cut at angles to conform with the angularity of said slots.

2. A cattle guard according to claim 1, including bolts extending between said rails to prevent spreading.

3. A cattle guard including a pair of parallel side rails defining opposed pairs of confronting tread receiving grooves inwardly inclined toward each other from top to bottom, and parallel treads spanning said rails with their ends seated within said grooves, said ends being inclined from top to bottom in conformity with the inclination of said grooves.

4. The structure as set forth in claim 3 in which the inclination of said grooves and ends is at approximately degrees from the vertical whereby a single cut across a plank to form one end of one tread on one piece of plank will therewith form a conforming tread end on the remaining piece of plank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

